Tesfaye Gessesse
Encyclopedia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n modern theatre. During a career that spanned 40 years, he has been an actor, director, writer and managing director. He wrote and directed several plays which have a great relevance in the modern history of Ethiopian Culture.
Tesfaye Gessesse started his career in the 1950s, when he produced his first plays in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. During the early 1960s, he studied at Northwestern University's theater school, in Evanston, Illinois. He was the only black student enrolled in that department. One of his one-act plays was produced by the department, but the program notes were read aloud from the stage, prior to the performance, so that their "revolutionary" content would not be reported to the monarchist government which was paying his tuition.
After his studies of theatre in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Tesfaye Gessesse co-founded the Creative Arts Center and became the General Director of Hager Fikir Theatre
Hager Fikir Theatre
The Hager Fikir Theatre in Addis Ababa is not only the theatre with the greatest tradition in Ethiopia but also the oldest indigenous theatre in Africa. It stands for more than 70 years of cultural life in Addis Ababa. It is a playhouse where modern Ethiopian music and drama were born and nurtured...
in 1974. After two years at Hager Fikir, he was suspended and sent to prison for his play "Iqaw" which was said to be anti-Derg
Derg
The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
and anti-revolutionary by the new regime.
In 1976, Tesfaye Gessesse became Director of the National Theatre Addis Ababa. He is a retired professor of the department of theatre at Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa University is a university in Ethiopia. It was originally named "University College of Addis Ababa" at its founding, then renamed for the former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I in 1962, receiving its current name in 1975.Although the university has six of its seven campuses within...
.